I mentioned that “Microsoft were massively shit”.

Only I had typed that into the main global call window, with the top ten global partners present,

The only fair reaction would have been be sage nods all round. Of course they’d have to have had cameras on for you to see this.

On

Saves bandwidth.

I keep hearing this and it makes kinda theoretical sense but whose bandwidth?

Broadband is a more basic requirement than water and for me in practical terms I’m usually working in a house where in the evening there will be screens streaming stuff, multiple sonos, possibly work computers x3 and phones plus various smart shite all on the home broadband. Far more domestic bandwidth use than during the day.

Employer bandwidth? Not really my problem but I’ve never encountered an issue including in large seminars. So when I hear people cite bandwidth as a reason I can’t see them (not that I ask as I’ve said early in the thread) I assume it’s usually a proxy for something else.

Have no real problem with the camera on and like someone stated earlier it’s a good way of seeing who you are addressing (if like me you often have meetings with people you have never met). It can lead to a little disorientation when folk with the camera off are talking as you aren’t always sure who is speaking.

On a side note though I love teams and video meetings as in the construction industry they bloody love to have a sit down to discuss something that only needs an email or two and the site is never 5mins away….more often 2 or 3 hours away and all for bugger all. Prior to COVID we spent so much time pointlessly driving round the country and now it’s 10 or 15 mins of my time without going anywhere. Client insisted we had a face to face the other day in York (nearly 4 hours for me) and my employer went along with this request…25 mins later I was back in the car…won’t be happening again.

Bandwidth or perhaps computer resource. Either way I have had plenty of meetings with our small team (5-10 people) and the picture or sound freezes for an individual pretty regularly, and not always the same person. Turning off cameras seems to help. As you can tell I am not IT literate enough to know exactly what the issue is. Could be their internet connection (upload) or could be their computer, especially Teams seems to use 100% resources of every computer I have used and seems to freeze often on Mac or Linux devices. My work does not pay for my personal laptop I am using to connect to my work desktop and they don’t pay for my broadband, so they can’t expect an expensive fibre connection. I know people sharing 5+ on a connection on the cheapest broadband package you can get and on personal devices.

Give over! 😀 That’s not a flavour of Millennial that I recognise…

Toss it off endlessly ‘cos I’m soooo exhausted’ and messing about with phones. Now that I recognise 🙂

You realise that some “Millennials” are now in their 40s, right? It’s perhaps time to stop sticking the boot in to an entire generation and telling them how shit they are once they’ve become grandparents.

I keep hearing this and it makes kinda theoretical sense but whose bandwidth?

My boss lives in some rural backwater. His Internet connection barely supports voice let alone video.

Fortunately.

It’s perhaps time to stop sticking the boot in to an entire generation and telling them how shit they are once they’ve become grandparents.

Blimey. Errrrm OK Mr Grumpypants. Will do. 😉

My team manager did do a lets have the camera on for one of our weekly team meetings. Two of us attended wearing masks (cant be too safe), sunglasses (definitely cant be to safe) and hoodies (ermmm). He just sighed and five mins in I crashed my camera messing with background images.
He didnt bother again after that.
We were a mostly remote team before lockdown though and often had to dial into random calls. So being just a voice isnt a massive change.

Whilst it is something I do like from a providing training viewpoint where getting to see whether people are looking confused or not is useful I dont see it adds any real value for most meetings where generally there is a screen share going on anyway.
Its not like seeing someone necessarily lets you know how much they are contributing. I was fairly notorious when I did attend meetings in person for looking half asleep with the rest of my attention appearing to be dedicated to spinning pens or other stuff around before saying something and making it clear I was paying attention.
Likewise been on plenty of calls where people have looked like they are paying rapt attention whereas I know they dont have a scoobies what is being discussed.

Likewise been on plenty of calls where people have looked like they are paying rapt attention whereas I know they dont have a scoobies what is being discussed

Hiya! 🙋😬

I’d question the OPs management style based on the thread title alone.

Absolutely this, as soon as I saw it.

“I’m the manager here, and …”
“fellow managers, what do you think of …”